Emily Rose Meditations

Our spirits and our bodies are both important, but while our bodies fade and decay (albeit in a slower way if we care for them well!), our spirits have an eternal facet to them. May we honor this aspect by attending the greatest care upon our spirits and those of others.

"Good prayer results in good posture." While physical and spiritual meanings are indeed different, in our bodies and spirits, one always affects the other, and it behooves us to attend to both, appropriately.

It helps to think of the spiritual world as surrounding us, rather than to literally imagine "up" as "where" heaven is. How might that affect the way we move in our world, not only when we're contmplating?

Our minds spend so much time straining! It can seem so counterintuitive, so antithetical, so against our nature to rest our minds, or to seek its calming. So let us not consider that contemplation is a continuation of that strain, but it is a true rest, which may seem more difficult, especially at first!

We're given an example, today, of how we might interpret a story in Scripture in a spiritual sense, though the actions in the story itself are physical.

How do we experience contemplation? How do we interpret the difference between spiritual and physical experience?

The author pulls no punches here! He admits that some people, finding the way of Christian contemplation too difficult, flip into animosity toward the Church. I wonder what it means for us to continue faithfully, even if we fail.

We can be tempted both to fastidiousness and to inattention. Neither are desired! As with so many things in this work and in life, the best is a middle way.

The author asserts that as we pursue inner growth through contemplation, we will grow in outward beauty. I've found this to be true in my experience -- those souls who are most at peace with themselves and their God invariably show such bliss on their faces.

Stick with us, this one may seem harsh, but I think it has something to offer. The author describes ways that deranged, or people who are led astray, may act; we can recognize and extrapolate people who aren't comfortable with themselves, and indeed, may belie disquiet in their spirits for some reason or another. We might take from it the truth that our inner peace is to be cultivated, examined, a...

Various ways that the author has observed evil enter contemplative life; I wonder what we might call these, or classify evil in contemplation as today. At first, these sound like hallucinations, and I hope he's not discounting those who have had true visions from God. On the other hand, the terrain is rocky, and a guide is useful! If you're interested in spiritual direction, do reach out. I'd love...

When we first begin our relationship with God, and as we seek to deepen our path, we continually need guidance and care to keep from falling astray (sometimes we do so without even realizing it!).

When we'll be encouraged by darts of love, or hints of presence, from God, we do not know. May we welcome them when they come, but not count on them for our spiritual (or tangible) satisfaction.

As we direct our love toward God, thereby God's love flows through us, out into the world.

Whether and how we receive comfort from God is beyond our power to predict; it behooves us, however, to be cautious.

A two-for-one deal today; as the author suggests "playing childishly" with God, we learn through this combination of chapters 46 and 47 that he means "We speak one way with people, and another way with God."

How to keep our humility in divine contemplation, keeping our spirit in line.

This chapter speaks of the sorrow of existing. The author does not mean that it would have been better never to be born, so what must they be thinking of? Have you ever been in a situation where you realized you were defeating yourself by your own mind, its prejudices and assumptions? I wonder whether that is close to what is meant here.

Though God has created each person individually and uniquely with infinite preciousness to him, in contemplation, this sort of thought amounts to navel gazing, which will make us astute in our observation of... belly lint. So: in contemplation, relentlessly turn your thoughts toward God, be consumed with and interested in him only.

How do we rightly weigh and prioritize our lives? By putting contemplation first. So says the author today, urging us to find the balance of everything else when contemplation is placed first.

Discretion, as the author here puts it, or moderation, as we might call it, has no place in the practice of contemplation. While other activities or practices may have beginnings and ends, ebbs and flows, contemplation is for all times, all places, all moments.

Whether "sin" or "virtue," contemplation succeeds best when we are not too particular or too focused -- this invites thought, and thought leads us down all sorts of pathways, when the purpose of contemplation is to remain still.

Exploring the depth of what a mantra can offer, we find that we can focus our attention by it, as well as allowing God to reveal the breadth of his love through it.

How much the Father longs to give good gifts to his children.

When we don't know how to pray, the Spirit intercedes.